Next-Generation Grimm
by KartheyM
Summary: Nick Burkhart never foresaw the way his decisions would affect future generations of Grimms. Two new Grimms; two young girls, worlds apart: Brooke was raised by Wesen and knows very little of what a Grimm does or should do. Raven grew up in the court of a Hexenbieste and has been taught that Grimms are the servants of the Royal Family. One mission will change both lives forever.
1. Chapter 1

Dear Diary-

My name is Brooke, and I see the monsters inside of people.

They are called Wesen, and Mau-Mau (the Maushertz who raised me) says that not everyone is Wesen, but there are plenty in the world. They survive.

I miss Mau-Mau. She was killed when a pride of lion-men invaded the Kinderhaus where I lived. They killed everyone else, but they left me. I hid from them, and they never found me. Now I am alone, and I am scared.

Mau-Mau said I was a Grimm, but I don't know what it is. I have tried many times to woge, but it never happens. The others teased me a lot for it. Do you know how terrible it is to be teased by an Eisebieber? I asked Mau-Mau what sort of Wesen a Grimm was, and she said a Grimm wasn't a Wesen, it was another kind of person. I asked her once if all the non-Wesen people were Grimms, and she told me no; you had to be special to be a Grimm, and there weren't as many Grimms as there were Wesen. That was all she ever told me about being a Grimm. She could tell me all about the other Wesen, like the Hexenbiester and the Könningschlangen, but she could never keep a straight face when she talked about Grimms.

I've asked her before if my parents were Wesen, and she said no, they were both Grimms. She said they died when I was very young, and Mau-Mau was working with Child Services at the time, and so arranged to have me sent to the Kinderhaus. She said I would have died without someone to protect me...but she wouldn't say why.

Now she is dead, and I don't know why. The Löwen ripped her belly open, tore apart the other children, and they ransacked the entire house. I survived because Donny the Rheinegen taught me how to hide. They never found me, and I didn't come out until dawn. I can still hear their screams ringing in my ears, amid the snarls of the Löwen. Now I am alone, and the house is dead and silent.

I found Mau-Mau in her sitting room-at least her body. They had smashed the large desk in the front hall that we used for mail and such. I saw an envelope with my name on it, in Mau-Mau's handwriting. Why had she written a letter to me? I opened it and found a heavy green pendant on a chain. I remember seeing Mau-Mau wear it a few times. It has strange markings on it. I wonder why she wanted me to have it? It is all I have left to remember her by, so I will keep it forever.

What can I do? This is all the home I have ever known, and it is destroyed. I have nothing left-nothing but a name and a necklace.

Who am I? Where do I go from here?

* * *

**Dear Diary,**

**In the end, there is only power. And none can wield power like a Hexenbieste.**

**My name is Raven, and I serve the most powerful force in the world, the Royal Family. I was placed in the care of Lady Aurelia when I was six years old. My parents were her bodyguards, elite servants called Grimms; they were killed in the line of duty, and so she raised me herself until I was old enough to learn my duties. I trained with the Verrat until I was too good for them, then Lady Aurelia accepted me as her only agent. I accomplished my first mission when I was thirteen: removing a greedy Klaustreich who was embezzling from the Family. I cut off its head, and presented it before her. She smiled and said I was ready to learn the true meaning of what a Grimm ought to be.**

**I held a secret conference with Milady a few nights later. She showed me the pendant she wore around her neck, saying that at one time, the Royal Family held six more just like it. Then one day, seven Grimms rebelled against the Family and took the pendants for their own. The Royals were able to recover three, and they knew the location of one more-but there remained three unaccounted for. **

**She asked me if I wanted to be the one to find the remaining pendants. I swore I would do anything she asked me. **

**"Even if it means killing another Grimm?" she asked.**

**In the end, there is only power, and power must not show any doubt. **

**"The Grimm who withholds the pendant from its rightful owner is rebellious and unfit for service," I replied.**

**Lady Aurelia sat back and smiled. "I will need twenty Hundjaeger to watch over me while you are gone," she mused.**

**I smiled at the praise, "I must find all I can about the pendant and its history before I depart, but while I am not here, so long as you remain exactly as you are, no harm should befall you."**

**She gave a small chuckle, "I shall grow restless without you, my Raven."**

**I bowed low before her. "I shall hasten my departure, that I might return the sooner."**

**She raised her eyebrows, "Not empty-handed, I hope?"**

**I set my mouth, "Never."**

**I have sworn my duty; here I sit in the library at the Royal palace in Lyon. Who knows what clues I will uncover as I discern what the seven rebels possibly hoped to gain? What of that fourth key? Why, if its location is known, have none of the Family attempted to retrieve it? Perhaps Lady Aurelia will answer these questions when I speak with her again tomorrow.**


	2. Chapter 2

Dear Diary—  
I'm not sure what to think now. I am not alone anymore... But I think my companions hate me.  
Let me explain how it happened: I had fallen asleep in Mau-Mau's rocking chair last night. When I woke up, a girl was rummaging through my clothes as I still wore them, looking for anything of value. I yelled, and she woged into a Fuchsbau. Then the leader came in and told everybody off. He is a Klaustriech by the name of Bergen.  
I was scared of him at first; the only Wesen I had seen before then were my friends at the Kinderhaus and the Lowen who killed them all. I did not know whether this Klaustreich would be the same. He spoke softly, and he seemed almost more afraid of me when I told him what I was than I was of him. He could have killed me then and there, but he didn't. He seemed to know Mau-Mau somehow. When I told him that I had nowhere to go, and no idea if the Lowen would be back, he said he would talk to the others about letting me run with them. He brought me outside where the others were going over everything they had scavenged from the Kinderhaus.  
The second-in-command of Bergen's crew is a Wider Blutbad named Oliver. There is a Geier couple named Justin and Vexie. They wanted to get rid of me; frankly, I wouldn't mind not being in the same group as Vexie—she does nothing but glare at me.  
The two Schakal brothers, Connor and Nathan aren't so bad, but I think it's because they're happy for someone new to pick on.  
There are three Fuchsbauen, Marta, Donny, and Frida. I think I could be friends with Marta. She offered me some food when the rest of them were eating and talking about me. Donny is the funny one of the group, and Frida is sort of quiet.  
Bergen has five other Klaustreichen who joined him at various times in the last few years; their names are Zephyr, Verne, Wendy, Mort, and Travis.  
I make sixteen members in the group. They have been traveling north from California (where Bergen and Oliver are from), scrounging, begging, and trading for food and shelter.  
"We're a bit of a rebel group," Verne bragged, tossing his head to get his curly brown hair out of his eyes, "most of what we do is cause trouble for the troublemakers, and help ourselves survive. No other Wesen will associate outside their own species."  
Mort glared at his friend, "Don't tell her that," he hissed, jabbing Verne in the ribs with his elbow. "She's a Grimm! That's like a person telling the cops he goes around tagging fences at night."  
"Whatever, Mort," Verne drew himself up to his full height, "It's not like she can do anything about it!"  
At this point Connor came up to us. He sniffed me closely; I wondered what I smelled like to a Wesen. Did Grimms have a peculiar scent?  
He looked at me in the awkward pause that followed Verne's comment. "Can you?" he asked me, raising an eyebrow.  
I shrugged, "I don't know...what am I supposed to do?"

They all stared at me slack-jawed, as if I had suddenly asked them what a cell phone was.

"You don't _know?"_ Zephyr shrieked.

Nathan eyed me from behind his brother. "Maybe it's better if we don't tell her," he mused.

"Tell me _what?"_ I asked.

At this point, Bergen walked up, "I see you're making friends," he chuckled at the group surrounding me just out of arm's reach.

I muttered something to the effect of, "So _that's _what you call it."

He caught the scandalized stares of a few of the others. "What's up?"

They just looked at him. Bergen sighed, "All right... huddle, everyone," he glanced at me, "Except you, Brooke."

So now I'm sitting by myself. They've been talking for several hours now-about me. Every so often, I hear Vexie squawk, but they're keeping the conversation down to a quiet murmur. I hope they'll let me stay. Company that doesn't like me very much is better than no company at all.

* * *

**Dear Diary-**

**Lady Aurelia is behaving most suspicious today.**  
**My search for the key began with all the records concerning the four keys that are known. Three of them are in the possession of the Princes here in Europe. I was surprised to discover that the last Grimm to have possession of the fourth made it all the way to America. In fact, the information I discovered seemed to suggest that they knew where it was, but no one had thought to collect it, apparently.**  
**I brought this before Lady Aurelia, but she only waved her hand and snorted. "Don't bother with that one," she said, "He is out of your league."**  
**I hated the way she said it. It made me boil inside. Like I was a worm, a nobody. How could she say that about me, after she made me Impervious? I told her as much, then she called me arrogant and ungrateful; turns out the spells didn't make me completely untouchable, only more resilient than most. All that pain, and I still couldn't do what I wanted? No wonder the traitors rebelled; I was a powerful human being, not anybody's pet!**  
**She saw the rebellious thoughts as good as written across my face.**  
**"It is more important that you locate the three keys we have not yet found," she said. "Only after you succeed in this may you pursue the errant Grimm."**  
**I would pursue him, all right! I would track him down like the slithering, stinking schweinhund he is, and I would torture him with all the skill of a professional Grimm, and make him wish he had the stamina to withstand pain that all our kind should have had. I would show him the way a true Grimm treats a weak, pitiful Wesen—then I would watch him die.**  
**As matters stand I have been forbidden to pursue the matter any further. I discovered that at least one key could have found it's way into the black market shelf of a Fuchsbau in England. That is where I am now. The Fuchsbau couldn't tell me much (and now it will be some weeks before he can talk at all; for a guy with so little information to give, he annoyed me with his chatter—luckily the means of silencing him sat right within my reach on the shelf) but he did say that his shop was sacked by a Balam who took several valuables, maybe the key as well.**

**I love tracking Balams. They take such pride in their secrecy and solitude, when in reality, once a Grimm finds the trail, the Balam is easy to follow.**  
**This one will be slightly more difficult, as the dirty polecat just waltzed into Heathrow airport and bought tickets to someplace in America, Settle or Sattlea or something like that. I shall have to follow him, I suppose. Of course Lady Aurelia would rather fund the purchase of a ticket on another flight to the same place than allow me the use of her private plane, but I must obey my mistress.**  
**We are boarding now. I would hate to lose the Balam in a foreign country. I sincerely hope this will all be over soon. I have better things to do than race after dead ends and loose cannons.**


	3. Chapter 3

Dear Diary-

Today I am sore. I have been on Bergen's crew for three days now, and I think they are starting to accept me more.

Bergen, Verne, and Marta have started training me in the various survival skills I need to know if I am going to keep up with them. We spent the first two days talking through everything, and today was my first physical training.  
Bergen tested my endurance and my stamina. I was not as fast as he was, but I could still run for a very long time. Verne tested my tracking skills. He took me to a deep forest and told me to find him. It took me almost an hour, but I finally caught his trail and his tracks, and soon encountered him running through the trees.  
Marta drilled me in stealth, but I did not need much improvement there. I had been the best at hide-and-seek among the other Wesen at the Kinderhaus for the last two years. I could hide from her for a very long time, and she would have to go into full woge to find me.

I have been learning more about Grimms. Some of it I don't think it's true. It couldn't be.  
Nathan says that Grimms go around cutting heads off innocent Wesen. Oliver said that Grimms are the police of the Wesen world, keeping tabs on the different Wesen and slaughtering the ones that the Royal Family would deem dangerous.  
"It's as if there weren't any Wider Blutbaden in their day," he grumbled. "To them, a Blutbad is a Blutbad, and off with his head."

I asked if there were any other duties of a Grimm besides slaughtering, and no one could give me a straight answer. Grimms were all cold-blooded, ruthless hunters, devoted to making sure the Royal Family had total control.  
They seemed glad to have what they called "someone like me on their side", even though I have no idea what that could mean! What side is theirs? Why are there "sides"?

Meanwhile, Donny, Zephyr, Frida, and Wendy seem to think my presence one big joke. A Stangebar contact came to bring them news, and the four of them managed to convince the poor creature that I chose not to woge because I was a Lebensauger!  
I, of course, knew nothing of this till the Stangebar approached me, after staring awkwardly for several minutes.

"It's all right, you know," he said, without a word of introduction. He kept his head bowed, peering at me from behind sandy-colored locks. "It takes all sorts to make a world."

I hadn't a clue what he was talking about.  
"Excuse me?" I asked.

He winced and shied from me. "You don't have to be afraid of what you are. I think—" he stopped and blushed bright red.

I waited for him to continue, not because I wanted to encourage him, but mostly because I could not think of anything to say!

He sighed, "You do look very pretty," he announced. "I mean, as you are now."

Now was my turn to blush. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"I mean, you shouldn't be ashamed of the Wesen you are!" The poor guy was trying so hard to be tactful and kind, that I knew it must be something important. I also knew that he must not think me a Grimm.

"What kind of Wesen do you think I am?"

"A very..." there was that strange expression again. "A very kind Wesen, I am sure."

I decided to end his misery then and there. "I'm not Wesen."

"You don't have to be frigh—"

"I'm a Grimm."

He stopped and blinked. "Wh-wh-what?" Fear replaced revulsion. "I thought..." his eyes darted toward the troublemakers. "They told me you...well, they seemed to indicate that—"

"They told you I was what?"

"A...Lebensauger. They said it's why everyone else would woge and you wouldn't. But if you're a Grimm—" he looked at me with wide eyes.  
I left him sitting by the fire and came over here to write in my journal.

Bergen keeps watching me, as if he is waiting for me to do something. If only I knew what it was. Every so often, he sits back like he just found something in my face, but then he leans forward again like he's still looking.

Will I ever feel like I belong anywhere?

* * *

**I have been in America for twenty-four hours, and already I miss France. Even Lyon.**  
**Seattle is terrible; it is so crowded here, so much concrete that doesn't hold any print or scent at all. So many noises and foul stenches, it's a wonder so many of the people live here.**

**It took about an hour of searching, but I found the Balam. He was just as unprepared for the foul weather as I was. The locals will walk easily to and fro in anything short of a downpour in little but a light, hooded jacket. I only had to look for someone bundled up to his ears and yet still avoiding the rain like poison, and I had located my Balam.**  
**The mangy tomcat managed to give me the slip for a few hours, but I soon caught his scent again and followed him deep into the metro center of the city.**  
**Imagine my delight when the Wesen confirms my suspicions I have harbored all along and just when I catch sight of him, he enters the shop of an antiques dealer! I waited outside until he came out holding a receipt. I slipped through the door before it closed behind him.**

**The Fuchsbau was every bit the stereotype.**  
**"What can I do for you?" he asks like a kindly shopkeeper.**

**I have no time for kindly shopkeepers. "You can return what is rightfully mine!" I keep my face shrouded, but I raise my palm and show him the mark of the Verrat.**  
**  
He goes from human to full-woge in less than three seconds.**  
**"I don't have anything of the Verrat!" he squeaks.**

**I love watching these spineless creatures squirm. There is nothing like power. I jump onto the counter in one bound and crouch over him, letting the tremors spread over his body.**

**"Don't waste my time," I snarl at him. "I serve the Royal Family. If I decided that you were better off dead, they could have every legal establishment looking the other way before you finished bleeding out." I pulled out my best knife. "Your carcass would rot right here behind the counter, and your store would be open to looters and vagrants. Just how many kilos of Jay have you been hoarding, eh? How long do you think it would take for people to empty your stash? Is it long enough for you to die first—or will it be the last thing you see?"**

**He was a quivering mass, a heap of gelatin covered in ginger fur.**  
**"Please!" he sobbed, "I'll give you whatever you want! I'll tell you everything!"**

**There it was: power. I had it.**  
**"The Balam who was just in here," I said, hopping off the counter and gazing around the display cases, "He sold you something."**

**"Santi?" The Fuchsbau scrambled to his feet and watched me closely. "He's my regular deliveryman. He sells me lots of things!"**

**"Yes, but this time—" I returned to the counter and stuck my face into his for good measure. "He gave you something that the Royal Family wants. It would be small...and ****_very_**** antique."**

**There's a certain expression everyone gets when they realize they know what you're talking about. I have been trained to spot it right away. The Fuchsbau wore it now.**

**"Now that you mention it, I thought there was something odd about that old ornament; it wasn't as shiny as the other things he brought in."**

**Now we were getting somewhere. "Where is it?" I start searching the cases. Maybe this mission will end right now, and I can return home to start looking into that other Grimm!**

**The shopkeeper says three words that make my blood boil.**  
**"It's not here."**

**There is fire in my veins; I see red. I see his face, terrified as it should be, I see priceless heirlooms shatter that are paltry trinkets next to the value of that key. I hear him crying and screaming at the destruction he has brought on himself and I feel only pleasure.**

**"WHERE IS IT?" I roar with all the fury of a Drang-Zorn.**

**"I sold it!"**

**"YOU SOLD THE PROPERTY OF THE ROYAL FAMILY?"**

**"Please! If I had known it was stolen I would have reported it when Santi first showed it to me! But I had no idea, and when a customer comes in right behind him and wants a new bauble for his watch fob, how can I refuse?"**

**I smashed another display case for good measure.**  
**"You will tell me ****_everything_**** about this customer," I said, "Or I will destroy everything in this store!"**

**"No! Please!" He reached out imploringly as I raised my hand to deal a blow to the largest case. "His name is Damien MacGregor, and he lives on Pike Street! Big, fat, rich—he likes to wear a lot of fine silks and rare antiques. Rumor has it he keeps several Seltenvogel, and that's how he is so rich!"**

**I lowered my fist slowly. "You have saved your shop," I told him, "but see that you do not receive any more... ****_packages_**** without reporting to the proper authorities! This had better not happen again!"**

**"Yes, oh, absolutely!" He was picking up shards of porcelain from among the glass.**  
**I couldn't stand another minute in that place.**

**I found the home of Damien MacGregor—but the door was already flapping in the breeze. Someone had beat me to him.**  
**The man—or I should say, the Klaustreich—had been slaughtered about an hour before I arrived. There was a message written on the wall in his blood, still dripping in places. **

**"ERNTEN WAS IHR GESÄT HABEN."**

**_Reap what you have sown._**** What did it mean? The intruder had evidently come only for the key on the fob, because there were many things much more valuable still in the house.**

**Reap what you have sown... The message was in German, so it was obviously meant for the Verrat or the Royals. But what ****_was_**** the message? Was there a Wesen faction resentful of the necessary cost of keeping their world running smoothly? Sow death, reap death? There had to be some significance to the fact that they left the slaughtered Klaustreich out in the open, with the fob supposedly holding the chain so obviously gone.**  
**I knew it was only a matter of time before the local authorities came, so I inspected the body closely for clues as to the killer.**

**His body had been torn up much in the style of a Löwen, but I could see the crumpled, bruised appearance of his skin around the wounds, and the visible splintered ribs. He'd been crushed, then someone tried to hide it by ripping him open. I checked his hands. I found just traces of foreign skin around his nails. I heard a car pull up in the driveway, so I scraped some of it into a tissue and slipped out the back door.**  
**Once I was safe outside, I pulled out the tissue and peered closely at it.**  
**Snakeskin; I rubbed it between my fingers for a scent. **

**I was now on the trail of a Könningschlange.**


	4. Chapter 4

It took me about a week, but I finally established myself as a valid member of Bergen's crew. We panhandle or scrounge mostly, but every so often, our crew comes across some unsavory Wesen that needs to be stopped. I've noticed that Bergen assigns more and more diversionary duties to the others, while I am the one who goes in for the kill—sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally.

After roaming alongside a highway for a few days, we came to a city; I'm not sure what it's called, but there seemed to be quite a lot of trouble and unsavory types.

At first the crew made themselves at home among the lowlifes, even swaggered a bit to show that we didn't mind skirting the law now and then, either. A couple of the more noted "vagrants" showed their woge. I saw Rienigen. But when we looked for them the next morning, they were gone. We wandered around the general areas, amid locals who didn't glance twice at the newcomers (mostly because we could blend in with the locals well enough if we spread out), but there seemed to be not even a hint that the wayward "rat-men" lived anywhere in town.

It bothered me more than it bothered Bergen. He only shrugged.

"Maybe they hide," he suggested.

"Where?" I don't know why, but I just felt like challenging him on it, "there is no reason for them to do that; look around the park! There are at least twenty people missing, if not more. Where and why would twenty people hide during the day? Why come out at night?"

He wouldn't talk about it. Later, as we sat around a small bonfire we made from trash and dead branches, somebody mentioned Burkhart.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"The other Grimm," Oliver answered. "He lives in Portland, a few hundred miles north of here."

"Seriously?" Something clicked inside me, and I could almost feel my body humming with energy. "Can we meet him?"

"No," Bergen snapped. "It would take too long to get us all there."

"Besides," Vexie inserted, "we don't want another Grimm to know about us."

I turned to her. She stared goggle-eyed at the fire, fingering the limp, greasy locks of her dark hair.

"Why not?" I wondered.

"He's a cop!" Justin snarled in my face. "He'll arrest us for sure!"

I looked at Bergen, "But I thought you said he was a good Grimm—like me."

Bergen hesitated. "I did say he was good..." he admitted, "at doing his job. And his job," he frowned at me, "Is locking up pickpockets and scroungers like us. No, we'll go around Portland when we get there."

I wondered what his problem was, but just then, we heard a rustling in the bushes. Everybody fell silent and listened.

"It's the Reinigen!" Vexie had the best night vision, and besides, she and Justin were already in the trees and so had a better vantage point than we did. I saw the small shapes scurrying through the bracken. There they all were, headed for the city.

I wanted to follow them, but Bergen objected. "We're moving out in the morning; no need to meddle in something that doesn't concern us."

It just didn't feel right to me. "We can't let those people overrun the town!"

"They're not overrunning the town!" Bergen cried.

Just then we heard loud crashing.  
Connor, the Klaustriechen, the Fuchsbauen and I snuck to the edge of the forest to see what was happening.

The grungy, dirty Reinigen were trashing a store. They broke display cases, threw stuff around, and a few even tagged surfaces with spray paint.

Once it was done, they all retreated back into the forest. By the time the cops arrived, there was no sign of the vandals.

"Let's follow them," I whispered to Marta as we watched the Reinigen disappear.

"Not on your life!" she murmured back. "Did you see that? It was like they targeted that one store! No way I'm getting in the middle of that!"

I gave her a look, but she purposely avoided looking at me for just that reason.

"Fine," I told her, "then I'm going by myself." I traced the Reinigens' trail down through the woods.

When somebody grabbed my arm, I almost took his head off before I realized that it was Connor. Nathan showed up behind me.

"What are you two doing here?" I demanded.

Nathan scratched his neck. "You are not doing this alone," he stated.

I sighed, "Stay close!" I had to act all huffy because I was still mad—but it made me warm inside, the way the two brothers thought of me as their sister, just like Marta or Wendy. Was this what it felt like to belong?

The Reinigen seemed to have plowed through the undergrowth without caring whether they left a trail, which struck me as odd. I had always believed that being a Reinigen meant you were naturally fastidious.

The brothers and I slowed when we came near a small clearing lit by sparse torches. In the clearing were dozens of large cages. Each one held a quivering creature huddled inside.

It turned my stomach to see such cruelty. From conversing with a few, I discovered that they were all beholden to a Hexenbiest, who kept them in the cages until night, when they could come out in their Wesen forms and terrorize the business of whoever displeased her at the time. I wanted to free them, and at first Connor and Nathan freaked out about it, but after a while, I convinced them to go along with it. I am thinking of asking the Fuchsbauen and the Klaustriechen to help me out, to get them back for the Lebensauger prank. Maybe if they see how good of a person I really am, they'll stop making fun of me.

The brothers will make sure the Hexenbiest is still in town when the rest of us free the Reinigen. Here's hoping that it all turns out all right.

* * *

**I found my Könningschlange. He was a smooth-talking attorney in the Capitol building of Olympia. Or at least he should have been.**

**His secretary said he hadn't shown up at work, and his legal partner was furious. He wasn't answering his phone.**

**The door of his penthouse was unlocked. I slipped inside.**

**There was certainly evidence of another guest in his home: a purse here, a jacket and scarf, a felt hat. As I moved through the house, I saw more articles—his jacket, his tie, her shoes, her hose, his shirt...**

**I smelled it in the hallway before I saw it. I found it laying on the floor in a dry, rotting heap. Death by Spinnetod; what a way to go. At first I was disappointed that my only lead was once again murdered by someone or something—**

**Then it occurred to me: what was it about this key I was tracking that drove others to kill? How many would have to die before I could get my hands on it? Would I eventually be a casualty of it's allure?**

**I must not think of these morbid thoughts; fear is weakness. I must stay strong. I have power on my side.**

**Now I must record a singular meeting I had today. Someone heard that I was asking around about the Könningschlange, and sent word to invite me to dine with him at the Basilico Ristorante.**

**He spoke slow and methodically. I pinned him as a Genio Innocuo, and he confirmed it.**

**"What are you?" he asked me.**

**I knew that a Genio doesn't ask a question to which he has not already formed a hypothetical answer, so I demurred and said, "One who prefers not to make her species known if she can help it."**

**He nodded. "That is wise. Stay out of trouble, and it will stay out of you, I always say."**

**I pretended to tease as I asked, "What do you think I am?"**

**He chuckled, "You say you do not like to make yourself known, so I would assume that you are either a Lebensauger—" his deep, intelligent eyes seemed to stare straight into my soul, "Or a servant of the Royal Family."**

**My whole body jerked in surprise.**

**The Genio held up his hands, "Please, I mean no threat against you!" He nodded toward my right hand, which I suddenly realized had gone to the hilt of my knife. "I noticed the mark as you reached for your cutlery when we began eating."**

**I looked again at my palm, with the thick scar that felt so much like putty under my skin.**

**"Verrat?" he guessed.**

**I felt my pride rise up as I declared, "I am a Grimm."**

**The Genio blinked but once. "I see," he said, making no other sign of his nervousness beyond fumbling his glass a bit. "Let us move on to other matters. Why are you looking for Gerard?"**

**I was not familiar with that name. "Gerard?"**

**"Ah," the Genio sighed, "We Wesen are all the same to you agents! I meant the Könningschlange. His name is Michael Gerard—not that you care. What happened to him? The police will not say."**

**"The Kehrseite rarely understand." I relished giving him the bad news. "Gerard was attacked by a Spinnetod."**

**"A Spinnetod?" I saw shock and confusion in his face. "Oh dear, I never knew them to attack Könningschlangen! Normally the two Wesen avoid each other. Spinnetoden prefer better-looking men." He eyed me warily, "Does the Family have any idea why he was killed?"**

**"The Family doesn't know about it," I told him, "_yet_. I am tracking a particular item that recently came into Gerard's possession. Perhaps this is what attracted the Spinnetod to him?"**

**The Genio tapped his chin in thought. "Is this item valuable to the Family?"**

**I gave him a dangerous glare. "Very," I confirmed.**

**He nodded. "That must be it, then. She must have tried to seduce it from him, and when he resisted, she killed him for it. It must be very large, this item?"**

**He was getting too nosy. I decided to evade him with a cryptic answer. "It's value exceeds it's size."**

**"I see..." he mused softly. "And you—does your value exceed your size?"**

**His question caught me by surprise. I was not accustomed to thinking about myself in this way. "What?"**

**The Genio chuckled in a way I didn't like. "Have you been in any way successful in tracking down the item?"**

**I disliked his tone. "What does it matter to you?"**

**He shook his head. "To me? Nothing; I would not care if you kept on going until every Wesen on the planet slew one another, and you never found your precious item. But what if it costs your life?"**

**"My life?" I was the personal agent of Lady Aurelia! For all I knew, I could be the Last True Grimm! I had been trained by the elite fighting force of the world! "It would never come to that!"**

**Another chuckle, "Many times I have seen the self-assured cast aside by the Royal Family. If at any time you cease to be useful, they will not hesitate to discard you. You are their special servant until they have no need of you, or the cost of keeping you alive does not suit them. See that you do not become unprofitable, young Grimm," he warned, "or the wolves will feast on your bones."**

**I could hardly keep my body from leaping over the table and strangling the heretic. "You speak treason!" I spat.**

**He flagged the waiter and asked for the check. "I speak truth," he stated firmly. "Beware the double-tongued serpent." He fixed me with that all-knowing gaze.**

**I hated him. If we were not in such a public place I could split him then and there, and he knew it. I stood.**  
**"I am the best!" I hissed. "I will always be the best!"**

**He did not bother to turn and look at me as I came around the table toward him. "Until someone better comes along," he sighed.**

**I moved toward the door. I needed to get out of there! The Genio's words poisoned my thoughts—even though I had been pondering the very same thing not too long before. I forgot my surroundings until it was too late.**

**I barely saw the tall, scruffy hobo with the terrible cough fall in behind me before something large and heavy struck me on the back of my head and I collapsed.**


	5. Chapter 5

I'm still here, but Bergen and the others are not. I am alone once more, and it's all my fault!

Yesterday afternoon, I had gotten a gang together and we worked to free the Reinigen. Some watched the Hexenbieste as she ran errands in town, and others came with me to open all the cages.

Of course as soon as we got them open, the Reinigen scattered in their human forms without so much as a thank-you.

We all then had to vacate the area as well, because the sun was setting and the Hexenbieste was on her way back. I wondered briefly what her face might look like when she saw the empty cages. What would she do about it?

Bergen didn't even noticed that we had done this thing. We were all back together sharing a hodgepodge supper on the other side of town by nightfall.

Bergen kept glancing around. We chalked it up to his usual paranoia, but then the others started to seem nervous as well.

Connor nudged me, "Look!" he said.

In the dim light of the nearby streetlamps, we could clearly see the Reinigen Wesen we had just liberated, still loitering around town.

How could they do such a thing? Didn't they want to get away? I wanted to jump up, to scare them all out of town and make them promise never to come back. I never got the chance.

Oliver came slinking back. I hadn't even realized he was gone. Bergen caught his eye, and Oliver nodded. Bergen swore and jumped to his feet.

"Idiot!" he roared at me. "What have you done?"

What did they figure out? "I-I-I—"

"You just had to meddle, didn't you? You had to tip off the Hexenbiest!"

I started to tremble from head to toe. "I didn't mean anything! We made sure she was gone!"

"_We_?" Bergen glared at me, "You brought others with you?" He gestured to his crew. "You dragged _my crew_ into this?"

"What's wrong, Bergen?" Marta asked, reaching out to comfort me.

"Oliver caught the scent," he growled. "There's a Mauvais Dentes in our shadow." He looked around at the horrified stares. Marta shrank away as if I had just woged for the first time. "We are all in mortal danger," he jabbed a finger at me, "but only as long as _she_ is here. If we leave her behind, there's a good chance that he will track her instead of dogging us."

"Leave me alone?" I was so shocked that I squeaked. I had never seen a Movay Dont, and I certainly didn't want to have to face it on my own!

Bergen frowned at me, "I'm sorry, but it's just too risky for us to stay together. We've taught you everything we know," he shrugged toward me, but kept his distance as if he didn't want any more of my scent on him. "You'll survive; you're a Grimm." He turned to the rest of them. "All right, everyone, pack up! We're rolling out in an hour."

I'll never forget saying goodbye to my closest friend after Mau-Mau, Marta. She stood as close to me as she dared.

"G'bye," she muttered.

"See you later," I replied, as if saying it would make it true. I felt the heavy pendant thudding against my chest under my shirt, and suddenly I wanted more than anything to seal our bond by telling her the thing I promised myself to tell no one.

"Marta..." I tried to find the courage, the right words to say.

"Yeah?" she asked.

I shook my head, and the urge to tell passed. It was not a secret for this day, but another. "Never mind." How long would I have to bear this thing before someone could tell me what it meant?

Oliver came up to me as they were leaving. "You might wait a day or so," he said, "just to see if the Mauvais Dentes will strike when he thinks you are vulnerable."

It sounded considerate, but I knew he also wanted me to give them enough time to get far away.  
He winked, "Good luck finding the other Grimm!"

I waved and thanked him.

It's cold, even with the fire I built. It's cold because there's no one around me. Bergen left me with a picture of what a woged Mauvais Dentes looks like. I hope we never meet. Let him wait, let him wonder; I would always escape. I run free. I can take care of myself.

Who am I kidding?

* * *

**It was dark and so foul I could barely breathe. I heard the terrible hacking again, and then a voice.**

**"Wakey, wakey, little schweinejäger!" It was a low treble, too high to be male, yet not high enough to be immediately recognized as female.**

**I forced my eyelids open as she coughed again. The air was viscous and foul. She grinned at me as the torches and flaming barrels around the room cast an almost demonic red glow over her face. Calmly, she presented before me a match. One wave of her hand and it burst into flame. That, and the terrible coughing told me she was a Dämonfeuer. She had me bound against the wall of her lair with thick handcuffs. I was at her mercy.**

**She extinguished the match, but there was no mistaking the cloud of vapor that still hung in the air, and she knew it.**

**"Now that I have your attention," she continued, "maybe you can answer some questions."**

**I knew that she did not have the authority to know anything about me or my mission. Rather than tell her it was off-limits, I opted not to say anything.**

**She blew a fireball just inches from my face. "Why is the Royal Family on a killing spree? What's going on among the Princes that they are commissioning hits on apparently random victims? Tell me what I want to know!" she struck the crate next to my head in frustration. "Tell me!"**

**I goaded her with my loyalty. "The Verrat do not target the undeserved."**

**The Dämonfeuer snorted and coughed again. "No; they believe all deserve their wrath. I know how they view the rest of us. So what's the latest scandal they're trying to cover up? The millionaire in Seattle, the lawyer in Olympia—what is it?"**

**I smirked at her. "You obviously have well-informed sources. Find out from them!"**

**She cussed at me. "I want to hear you say it!" she shouted. A coughing fit overtook her and she woged in an effort to calm it. She bent over a blackened barrel and spat into it. A huge fireball flamed up, and she backed away, inhaling deeply. She turned back to me, smiling dangerously.**  
**"I thought it would be more reliable to get someone from the inner court—the killer herself. You're not from around here, are you? What does the Royal Family want in the Northwest? I thought they were mostly concentrated in New England. Why did you kill those two?"**

**"I'm not a murderer," I told her. "I'm a Grimm."**

**"A Grimm?" She registered surprise, then she pulled out a vicious-looking knife and came toward me with a hungry gleam in her eye. "Hmm, how much are those worth? D'you think I could bargain for whatever I want if I send you back over the sea one little piece at a time? What would they give to keep you whole?"**

**"They would kill you if you so much as cut me," I snarled.**

**"Wow, not even a tremor of a woge," the Dämonfeuer mused. "You must be a Grimm...or a Kehrseite-schlich-kennen," she frowned at me. "You're not like the other Grimm I've heard of."**

**My heart rose, in spite of my predicament. "What other Grimm?"**

**"The one protecting Oregon—and I do mean protecting. He's allied with some of the Wesen there, and he fights for justice and safety among the Wesen. Feindlich Wesen respect and fear him, and Wesen-Freunde love him."**

**I went from hopeful to sick in a moment. I strained against my bonds. "He is a traitor to his kind!" I screamed.**

**"Ah, is that what you're after?" she sauntered just out of my reach. "A Grimm gone rogue—but what if I said that you were the rogue? What if this man you call a traitor is really fulfilling the true role of Grimmhood, and you are the one eating out of the enemy's hand?"**

**I could not believe what she was saying. How could such a thing be possible? The Grimms ought all be in service to the Family! Any threat from a Grimm to the Royal Family is perceived as insubordination and a Reaper is dispatched to deal with the defective agent—was this not so?**  
**The thick air was making it hard to think, but I only needed a moment longer. Then I would show this dämonkinder what manner of Grimm I was.**

**"Your mouth is full of lies!" I hollered at her, drawing her attention to my face and away from my hands. I was lucky she'd clasped the cuffs around the outsides of my sleeves, so I could still reach the ends of them. "I am no traitor! I would not betray the ones who—"**

**"Own you?" she cut in. "The ones who brainwashed you to think what they want you to think? This Grimm has already killed four Reapers and robbed a Hexenbieste. Do you really think you can hunt him down and kill him? Tied up like you are?"**

**I smiled; I had her right where I wanted her.**

**"You're right," I said slowly. I watched her face eagerly as the handcuffs magically dropped from my wrists and I reached down to free my ankles.**

**"Now I'm ready," I said, and bounded toward her.**

**The Dämonfeuer coughed in my face and shoved me back into a barrel. By the time I regained my footing, she had vanished.**

**I was free, and I could probably leave unmolested—but something inside me seemed to think that choosing this would allow her to live to bother me again some other time. I knew how volatile these Wesen were, but she needed to learn her lesson.**

**"Run and hide, little demon," I whispered. "I will find you."**

**Her voice echoed around the cavern, making it difficult to trace.**  
**"I have a name, you know! It's Sarah."**

**I knew if I could keep her talking, I could find her quicker. "I don't care."**

**"Maybe that's why everyone appreciates the other Grimm so much," she called to me. Her voice sounded close and then far away. "He sees us as people with creature natures. To you we are just creatures."**

**I had her in my sights. I just had to get close enough amid the barrels of flames to reach her. I had slipped a pair of the handcuffs in my pocket, and I intended to use them.**

**She had lost track of me. I saw her glancing around the wavering shadows; she had no idea I was so close. Carefully I inched forward. I had to be sure of myself because I had very little room to maneuver. I focused on the thought of overpowering the little wisp, and squeezed between two barrels.**

**My toe caught a stray wire, which dislodged a scrounged hubcap and sent it crashing to the floor. She whirled around and looked straight at me. Then she coughed. I tried to duck away, but now the wire had hooked into the material of my boot. Furiously, I kicked to dislodge it, but it wouldn't let go.**

**"Goodbye, cruel Grimm," she said, and prepared to ignite the vapor.**

**There was a furious roar and a large shape loomed over me. Enormous hands grabbed me by my shoulders and yanked me out of the trajectory of the fireball. Whoever it was pushed me against the wall of the cavern and shielded me with his body as the flames passed. Then he turned and snarled at the Dämonfeuer.**

**A Hundjäger! How did he find me? He lunged for my onetime captor, tearing her throat before she could inhale for another cough. Then he woged back into a human and turned to me.**

**"This way, please," he grunted, gesturing to the front of the cavern. I followed him out into the clear night. It felt good to finally gasp lungfuls of fresh air.**

**The Hundjäger placed a hand on my shoulder. "Her Ladyship grows anxious for a report of your progress. It has been almost two weeks. Have you discovered the location of the key?"**  
**I was more disappointed at not having any good news to tell Lady Aurelia than she probably felt over me.**

**"Every time I get close," I told the Hundjäger, "it somehow escapes my grasp. I have possible suspects, but we lack the spy network here to be able to find and track it before it changes hands once again."**

**The burly guard handed me a small white calling card. "Her Ladyship anticipated that this would be the case, so she instructs that you contact one of the Family members established in this area and receive assistance from them."**

**The card bore two names: Captain Sean Renard, Portland; and Lady Serena Gordon, Salem.**

**It bothered me that there was a Royal in Portland where the traitor Grimm was; why had he not kept his servant in check? I'd heard whispers around Lady Aurelia's palace that one of the kings had taken up with a Hexenbiest and tainted the Royal bloodline. Was this Captain Renard the bastard son everyone whispered about? If so, I didn't want anything to do with him. Lady Serena sounded like a fine woman, even though it would be a longer trip.**

**"Give her my thanks—" I turned to tell the Hundjäger, but he had already vanished.**

**I needed to find the quickest bus line to Salem. At last, I would have access to the resources I needed to hunt my quarry. The power was within my grasp.**


	6. Chapter 6A: Brooke

I am headed north, toward Portland. There's no telling what awaits me when I arrive.

Ricky says the Grimm lives in a castle, but I don't believe him. I haven't quite gotten over the fright he gave me. Ricky is the Stangebär that joined with me and Bergen's crew. I thought he had left with everyone else, so when I moved on by myself, I kept assuming every rustle I heard was the Mauvais Dentes.

I had just passed the sign declaring that I was "Leaving Salem", when I saw a shadowy figure in the trees.  
I immediately dove for cover like Oliver had taught me. The person emerged from the foliage and searched carefully. I moved around behind it. Would this be the confrontation with my predator? I crouched down, then when the man flinched, I sprang.

"Look out!"

I had to react quickly—and the Wesen dodged as well—when he woged and his skin bristled with quills!  
Needless to say, he introduced himself and begged me to take him along. I tried to remind him of what Bergen had said, but Ricky insisted. He claims he wants to meet the Grimm. He says that the Grimm could exorcise a Hexenbiest, and that he knows everything there is to know about Wesen, and he has all the weapons and the potions and such. I'm not sure if I believe everything Ricky says, but it will be good to speak with someone who knows what he's talking about, at least. And if I can find him before the Mauvais Dentes decides to strike, so much the better.

My hands are shaking now but at present we are safe. I must write what happened.  
In the midst of writing the above, our adversary struck! Ricky got in it's way just in time, so it got a mouthful of spines instead of me. We ran without stopping. We reached a highway and followed that till we got to the city. The Mauvais Dentes seemed to have given up, or at least melted back into the shadows.

"See how dangerous it is?" I tried to tell Ricky as we walked into town. "We're not even armed! Our only weapon is speed, and something tells me we didn't just outrun a Mauvais Dentes."

He shook his head, "I'm staying with you. I want to meet the Grimm."

We arrived at a street with a few small shops.

"What city are we in?" Ricky asked.

"I have no idea," I admitted. Now that we were in someplace more populated, I attempted to make my ruffled clothes more presentable. I straightened my shirt, and a small card fluttered out. I picked it up.  
It was a message of two words: "Follow her", signed "SG."

"The Mauvais Dentes must have dropped this during one of his strikes," I surmised, since I doubted anyone else wanted us to follow "her," whoever she was.

"Who is SG?" Ricky wondered.

I shrugged, "Someone from Salem, I guess. Maybe—" I stopped. "Yes! SG might be the initials of the Hexenbiest I ticked off."

We stopped in a local cafe for some food.  
"We will need to keep our eyes out for anything suspicious," I had to state the obvious to Ricky. "We still don't know what the Mauvais Dentes looks like as a human."

Ricky nodded, and began glancing paranoid eyes around the room.

I shook my head, "I seriously doubt he's here." I stopped talking and we ate in silence. Instinctively I began eavesdropping on any conversations I could hear.

"...Nobody in Portland wants that. I'm thinking of making a trip out to Tigard to check..."

"...Excited to see how it turns out! It's so great..."

"... and all, but then Cheryl told me about his..."

"...as it should be; I don't want to think how the others will react when I tell..."

"...told them about it? I hear we have someone on the inside."

My ears latched onto the conversation. Two men sipping tea at the far wall. I wondered if I'd heard them right.

"What could they do?"

"I hear one of them's a Grimm."

"A G—are you sure that's just tea you're drinking, my friend?"

"Think of the advantages!"

"Think of the risk!"

"He may be a powerful ally."

"Who pissed off dozens of even more powerful enemies! No, it's too much. I'll solve this my own way." With that, the speaker stood up and walked away.

I seized the moment and walked over to the table.

The man looked up as I sat down.  
"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

I decided not to bandy around the bush. "You can tell me what you know of this Grimm I couldn't help overhearing you talk about," I answered.

"You heard that?" he gasped with wide eyes.

I saw the furtive movement of his hands. Was he some sort of timid or scavenging Wesen, like a Maushertz or Eisbieber?

He glanced toward the door, "I think I should go—"

"Wait!" I caught his wrist, and felt the woge happen under my fingers. I looked at him.  
"You're a Genio Innocuo," I murmured.

He blinked at me with his tortoise-like eyes. "You aren't Wesen! How could you—are you a Reaper? A Royal? Please don't hurt me!"

I shook my head, "No, I'm none of that. I won't hurt you. I'm a—" I saw the wonderment in his eyes and knew that he had figured it out, so I didn't have to confess right there. "One of those, too. I'm looking for the other one; do you know where to find him?"

The Genio glanced around the room. "My name is Kyle. Let's not talk in here. Come with me. We can talk at my house."

I caught Ricky's eye and nodded to him. He slowly and reluctantly made his way over to us.  
"My name is Brooke, and this is my friend Ricky."

Kyle nodded to him. "Follow me. It's not safe here."

We walked northward through the city.

Kyle talked softly as we walked.  
"Why do you seek the Grimm?"

"I am one myself," I reminded him, "but I have been raised by Wesen my whole life. I am hoping that he will teach me the things he knows, and answer the questions I have." I glanced at him. "Do you know him? Are you his assistant?"

Kyle shook his dark head quickly. "No; I have only heard about him. But what I have heard is truly amazing. They say he can identify Wesen species on sight."

I pondered this; I had to wait for Wesen to woge in order to see what they were. I could not imagine seeing Wesen as their creature natures as a normal thing.

We had not gone two blocks before the hair on the back of my neck stood up straight and I stopped in my tracks. Were we being watched? I glanced around: there was an autobody shop, and an ECE administration building, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking back now I remember that two men came out of the coffee shop we had just left, and again I had the strange feeling, but I still did not know what prompted it at the time.

"What is it?" Kyle asked.

I shrugged and kept walking. "Nothing, I guess."

We turned the corner and traveled three blocks west. The big house on the corner had a "For Sale" sign in the yard.

My neck tingled again. I heard the bark on the large tree in front of us crack. I looked up.  
"Guys, look ou—"

The Mauvais Dentes struck, baring his saber fangs. I picked up a fallen branch and tried to shove him with it, to give Kyle and Ricky time to get away.

He snarled at me with a gleam in his eye that said he knew exactly how to get me.

What he hadn't reckoned on was my two friends wanting a fight. Ricky came charging out of the bushes in full woge, head down, spines bristling. The Mauvais Dentes grappled with him, while I jabbed and smacked with the branch. Finally, the Mauvais Dentes got in and lifted Ricky completely off the ground and threw him into a nearby thicket.

"Brooke!" I heard Kyle cry, and turned just in time to see a pair of long-bladed shears sail through the air. A weapon! I caught them and flourished the twin blades at the Mauvais Dentes. He pretty much ignored the danger and reached toward my face with his long claws. I stabbed his soft belly, but he dodged out of the way before I could do much damage. He rolled into a bush and I lost sight of him. I tried to stand and listen, while at the same time using my eyes still to search the shifting shapes and shadows. I stood in the shade of the spreading tree and waited for some sign of where he was waiting. Something tapped my shoulder. I looked over. A red stain was in the process of spreading over my shirt. I turned my eyes up, dreading what I would find.

The Mauvais Dentes, side bleeding, sat on the branch above me. He dropped toward me. I was sure it would be the last thing I'd ever see. He landed with his claws in my shoulders. Now my own blood mingled with his on my shirt.

"Hey!" a voice hollered.

The Mauvais Dentes looked toward the newcomer. He was not very tall, but strong-looking, with dark hair and light eyes—and a pistol trained on the Mauvais Dentes.

He cocked the gun. "Get away from her," he ordered the Mauvais Dentes.

The Wesen did so—and leaped straight for him. Now the man and the Mauvais Dentes grappled with each other. I struggled to my feet and picked up the shears. I had to marvel at the skill of my ally; he really knew hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. Where did he come from?

I watched carefully for opportunities to help. Whenever I had a clear strike, I stuck the blades in and snipped. Together, we succeeded in bringing the monster down. The man forced it to it's knees and slapped handcuffs on his wrists. He nodded at my shears.

"Slit his throat," he said.

My stomach turned only a little bit as I opened the bloody instrument and drove it into our enemy's neck. His monstrous face changed back into that of a scruffy, unkempt man.

My world began to tilt, but then I felt strong hands on my elbows. At first I thought I couldn't breathe, but I realized instead that I was sobbing.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

I gulped back the sobs and fought to relax my breathing.  
"Yes." My voice sounded strangled still.

"Who are you?"

Before I could answer, Ricky emerged, covered in blood. "Kyle's hurt!" he cried.

"I have to go," I murmured, and ran away from the stranger. I knew better than to be completely rude. I looked over my shoulder at him. "Thank you," I called over my shoulder, and then I disappeared into the thicket to find my friends.

When I looked back, the man was gone, and so was the body.


	7. Chapter 6B: Raven

**I am in fear for my life. May the curses of every Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest fall on their own heads!**

**Lady Serena turned out nothing like I expected. She resided in a penthouse in the middle of the city, closely guarded by Hundjaeger. She seemed to think that she outranked Lady Aurelia, or at least that I was more of an inanimate, impersonal tracking device, not an elite agent. She demanded a report of me, and only barely listened as I told her of my discoveries.**

**When I finished, she asked, "This key you are searching for—do you have any idea where it is?"**

**I did not.**

**"What about the message? Do you think the Könningschlange could have left it?"**

**I doubted it.**

**"But you could not confirm it."**

**I felt the anger rising inside me; why was she questioning me like this? All I wanted were some contacts and resources.**

**"Don't be so short with me. I suppose your mistress recommended that you come see me concerning information about a key that I have been tracking for some time now."**

**Yes, that was it. Perhaps if we pooled everything we knew, we could find the missing key and figure out who would want it badly enough to kill and why.**

**"Ugh, you sound so sentimental it's abominable. Of course you're not a detective, you're a hunter. You're supposed to be tracking the key...and you've_ already_ lost it."**

**"Your Ladyship," I ground my teeth in frustration, "that is why I am here; I have only limited resources and no contacts in America. I was hoping that you might be able to—"**

**"No, no! I don't mean you lost it in Seattle! There's a key in Portland, and you completely missed it!"**

**I was both offended and confused. "You speak of the key held by the detective? The one the Family already knows about?"**

**"No...there is another. It came north from Eugene, and I have been aware of it's movement all the way into Portland. According to my agent who was trailing it, he saw you walk right past it's location."**

**My legs were beginning to ache from standing so long, but I dared not falter in the presence of a Lady.**  
**"Where is it?" I asked.**

**Lady Serena shook her head, "Oh no, it won't be that easy. Your weapons will be returned to you when you leave here, and I will give you the names of some contacts in Portland—but view this as a chance to prove yourself. Show me that you aren't just a worthless killing robot that needs a target every time. Find your own target—and win." She waved her hand, "That will be all."**

**The Hundjaegers came forward and grabbed my arms. I tried to shake free, but they held so tight it hurt. "What if the one who holds the key now ends up like the others?" I demanded.**

**Serena gave a long, slow blink. "Unless you can find the killer," she murmured softly, "we know who to blame, don't we?" She raised a finger toward me. "Do not fail us, Grimm."**

**She smiled so darkly, that the words of the Genio Innocuo came back to me: _"If at any time you cease to be useful, they will not hesitate to discard you...the wolves will devour your bones...double-tongued serpent..."_**

**Something snapped. Suddenly I saw right through her. Lady Serena didn't want to help. She wanted to prove who was boss, prove that she deserved the castle in Lyon instead of a penthouse in Salem. If I found the key, she could take the credit; if not, well, she could kill me for failing and make it look like an accident. I knew all about those accidents, myself. I had never felt more like a pawn, and I hated it.**  
**I stood defiantly before the Hexenbiest.**

**"I am not yours to command," I declared, "I come to you for assistance, and you presume to test me?"**

**"Do not forget who's court you stand in, Grimm!" Lady Serena fired back. She woged, but the deformed visage held no terror for me.**

**I had the power now. I could feel it. "This is not a court," I told her, "this is a house. You are only well-connected, not nobility. It was for some favor done by you that the Royal Family allowed you to use the title of Lady."**

**It was wild conjecture, but I could see by the grimace on her face that it was likely close to the truth.**

**She scowled at me. "Very interesting. And tell me—In light of such blatant insubornination and failure, what could induce me to let you live? It sounds like you have outlived your usefulness."**

**There it was; the open threat. I needed to end this now.**

**"One of us has," I said, fingering the edge of my cloak, "but it isn't me. I still have a few—" I jerked down and back, tearing my favorite knife from it's secret pocket in the same moment. The blade flashed as I sliced the arms of both Hundjaegers. They howled and tried to grab me with the other hand, but I slit their wrists and bashed their heads with my elbows. I was in Serena's face before they hit the floor. My favorite knife tickled her chin. "Tricks up my sleeve," I finished.**

**I saw the brief terror in her eyes, which she tried in vain to cover with smugness, as if she had expected me to do that.**

**"Oh, Bravo, young Grimm! I haven't had anybody take on my guards like that in years. But now what are you going to do?" she mocked. "Surely you're not going to dare lay a finger on me!"**

**I never wanted so badly to spit in a Hexen's face. Next time, I promised myself, I would volunteer for the service of a true Royal. Hexenbieste were all self-absorbed charlatans. They could keep their wiles and their spells for all I cared!**

**"It pains me, I know," I snarled at her, "but it appears I have no need for you, after all." I lifted the letter opener from the desk nearby. Bringing it up in my fist like a dagger, I drove it home: through the sleeve of her dress and into the armrest of the chair. She shrieked. I backed off of her.**

**"I hope you take this as a sign that I never want to meet in person again," I warned her. "I may contact you later and I expect your full cooperation. And please—never insult my mistress again. The King wouldn't like to hear of it when he takes his tea with her next."**

**I knew I would cherish the terror on her face for many years to come.**

**In the end there is only power, and sometimes, the Hexenbiest is not the most powerful being there is; it could be anyone—even a Grimm who has learned from a powerful Hexenbiest.**

**The noise of her screams had attracted many more Hundjaeger. They were coming for me. There was no way out except the fire escape on the outside of the building. I jumped out the window.**

**It was more like a controlled fall, but at least I reached the ground barely ahead of the guards. I ran straight into the street, dodging between the cars. A biker plowed straight into me, and since I was left holding his vehicle while he went flying, I hopped on and took off, following signs to the interstate freeway. I had left my weapons behind, but there would no doubt be opportunity to acquire more, with my connection to Lady Serena.**

**I am headed north, toward Portland. There's no telling what awaits me when I arrive.**


	8. Chapter 7

**I am on the trail of the Grimm. What else could Lady Serena mean when she mentioned the key that I had lost? I would show her I was more useful alive than dead. What would Lady Aurelia think if I presented both the errant Grimm and at least one key to her?**

**There is but one slight complication to my plan. I fear that Lady Serena has sent word ahead of me, to the Prince in Portland, and the two are conspiring to take me down. The day I arrived, I saw another person with my face. It was only a glimpse, but I knew I had just seen my Doppelgänger. I lost her soon afterwards, but I have just found her again. This time I will not let her out of my sight.**

**It is strange, though; what could she hope to gain from creating a double of me? Is the double going to kill me and take my place? Not if I get to her first. She appears to be moving away from the crowd, toward the quiet neighborhoods. Does she know that I am following her, and so she is isolating us? If it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get. There is a small castle in the middle of the block, with a secluded parking lot and plenty of trees to mask my approach. She is almost there. I must get into position.**

* * *

I have been wandering the streets of Portland all day, and I am beginning to wonder if I am on the wrong side of the river. I tried to get directions from a passerby, but I think he must have been uncertain himself, because he mentioned a few street names that I have not seen yet.

After taking care of Kyle's body, Ricky succumbed to his nerves and told me he wanted to look elsewhere for the Grimm. He said he knew a few Wesen in Portland who might know a thing or two. When I asked to come with him, he refused quickly.

"It's safer for me—for us," he caught himself, "if we split up. Some of my friends, you know, they're kind of, um...skittish."

I knew I was going to miss the companionship, but I also knew better than to force him along with me when he so obviously didn't want to come. We parted ways and he headed eastward, while I went a bit more to the west. I ended up on Taylor Street, walking past quirky, ornate Victorian-style houses. Down the block I could make out the belfry of a sudden castle in the middle of the neighborhood. What would a castle be doing there? I wondered dimly when it had been built. As I got closer, I saw that it had been converted into a church. A gust of wind blew through the trees—and a shadowy figure dropped out of the branches. I froze, and so did the other. The figure (I couldn't tell if it was man or woman) wore a cloak with a hood pulled over his (or her) face. In his (or her) hand, a knife gleamed. I backed away, desperately wishing I'd kept a weapon of some sort. The figure crept closer.

"Please," I begged, "Don't hurt me! Are you the Grimm I've been looking for?"

The figure jerked up straight and muttered one command in a foreign language—"_Sterben, Doppelgänger!_"—before springing at me with the knife outstretched.

* * *

**The Doppelgänger proved much more efficient than I anticipated. Most doubles can only copy the appearance, but this one possessed all my skills as well. She ducked when I came at her, and before I could redirect my blow, the blade buried deep into the tree behind her. She ran—exactly as I knew she would—straight for the gated parking lot. I came after her most willingly.**

**The double proved a very unwilling adversary. She dodged my blows. I could not figure out whether she might be luring me somewhere. Suddenly she caught my wrist and twisted my arm around my back. Curses! Ludwig always told me never to take my mind off a fight! This is what comes of it!**

**The double leaned close to my ear, panting hard.**  
**"Please stop fighting," she said.**

**I surprised her with sudden movement that threw me out of her grasp.**  
**"Never!" I cried.**

**She kept begging, "Please! I don't want trouble!"**

**"Lies!" I shouted. Of course she didn't want trouble; she wanted me dead!**

**"Stop!" She fought well; if she wasn't in my way, I might even consider a partnership. But I have no use for distractions or liabilities. And she was definitely both; I could not seem to pin her down, and try as I might to get her, she deflected all of my attacks.**

**"Stop this!" she ran up the stairs to the back door of the castle, then jumped down behind me when I followed. "Leave me alone!" she struck at me when I chased her.**

**It literally felt like fighting with myself, except she was wearing clothes I would never wear. "I will not stop until you are dead!" I snarled at the double. "I know who sent you, and I'll make sure you crawl back to her! Show your real face if you dare!" I went for her eyes, and she deflected my hands with her arms. "Go on! Show it!"**

**She grabbed my wrists and held my arms down. Before I could lunge forward into her face, she cried, "This _is_ my real face!"**

**I stopped cold. "No...N-No, it's—wait, it is?" There was no guile in her face. She wasn't trying to fool me; she really was scared of me. She believed what she was telling me; but if it really was true... "Then you—then we—" I couldn't say it. I just touched her face, touched my own, and placed a hand on her shoulder.**

**She gasped, as if the gesture told her what my mouth couldn't say. "Oh… I never thought of that…" She stared at me with wide eyes.**

**I was looking at my twin sister.**


	9. Chapter 8

You'd think it would be easy to recognize your twin. You'd think that another person with your face couldn't possibly be anything else. You'd think somebody would tell you these things after almost twenty years, for crying out loud!

Twin sisters? Seriously? What kind of sick joke kept us apart for our entire lives, and then when we finally meet for the first time, she is so freaked that she tries to kill me?

There were two sets of stairs leading to the front doors of the church, on either side of an elevated landing. She sat on one, I sat on the other. We just stared at each other over a distance of five feet. She spoke first.

"Well, ah, this is—"

"Weird?" I finished. "I know!"

She frowned at me, "Don't do that." She watched me again. Then she asked, "So, um, did you, uh, like know my—know _our_ parents?"

I had never even thought about that; were we separated at birth? Did Dad know that we were twins? Mom must have known; I had not the slightest inkling of the possibility I would ever hear someone else refer to my parents as "ours." I shook my head. "No; they died when I was—"

"Three?" Now it was her turn to finish my sentence, and my turn to be creeped out by it. "Yeah, that's how I remember it, too."

So we were victims of the same home invasion; why hadn't Mau-Mau's friend rescued both babies, instead of just one? Did Mau-Mau know one of us was missing? She never let on that she did. Was this other twin left for dead?

She slowly shifted to the top step and scooted closer to me. Not very much closer, but closer. I could see some kind of scar on her hand. Her nails were short; I wondered if we had the same habits, being twins and all-like biting our nails.

"I'm Raven, by the way," she said at last.

Raven; I liked the sound of that name.  
"Brooke," I introduced myself.

Raven scooted just the tiniest bit closer. "So…where did you learn to fight like that?" She brought a hand up to the shiner I had left on her cheek. I didn't see offense, though; she appreciated combat.

Meanwhile, I tried to figure out the best way to sum up the last few months when this girl Raven also had no idea of the twenty years preceding them. "Well, when the foster home where I was raised got ransacked by a pride of Lowen, a Klaustriech named Bergen let me join his crew and taught me what I needed to know."

Raven gave me a disgusted sneer.  
"I don't believe this; you ran with Wesen?"

The way she said it, one would think I spent my life in a leper colony. "They're not all bad, you know!" I rose up in defense of my friends. "They taught me that it was in a Grimm's nature to want to help the Wesen, that their skill set was one that could bring balance without the tendencies and urges of a regular Wesen."

Raven snickered darkly. "I'll remember that next time I have to stick a Fuchsbau who doesn't want to help."

I was even more horrified by the fact that she enjoyed the thought than I was at the suggestion itself. "Why would you do that?" I cried. She was looking at the mark on her hand again. Was it some sort of brand? "Raven, who trained you?"

She tossed back her hair with a flip of her head and announced proudly, "The best of the best. I was trained in the same battle school where our parents trained. I grew up in Europe," she bragged. "France, actually."

France! While I had to stay in Oregon. I wondered where we used to live, as a family. Why would one be taken to Europe and the other left behind? I sighed and acknowledged my envy. "Someday I want to go to Europe."

Raven snorted. "Trust me it'll happen, whether you like it or not!"

I noticed that she had the same hopelessness that the Reinigen showed when I tried to rescue them from the Hexenbiest. I knew from what Bergen told me that Grimms were originally in the service of the Royal Family, because of their singular ability. Was that why Raven was taken all the way to France, why we never knew each other till now?  
"It doesn't have to be that way, you know," I said quietly.

Raven looked at me sharply. "What way?"

I tried to explain, "You don't have to look to the Royal Family for objectives and missions and such. You can be a Grimm on your own terms."

"That's traitor talk!" Raven snorted. She stood up and walked closer to me, leaning against the door and studying me carefully. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you sided with the renegade Grimm already," she mused.

"Are you kidding?" I shook my head. "I haven't even found him yet; have you?"

Raven walked down the steps and pulled her knife out of the tree. She checked the blade before slipping it back into a hidden pocket in her cloak. "He made a killing further in town," she mentioned casually. "I tracked him to it, but by the time I got there, the cops were swarming the place."

I moved over to her side of the landing. "Well, he might have been there, I heard he was a—wait," the pieces began snapping into place in my mind. "what was killed?"

Raven shrugged. "A Mauvais Dentes I think; why, what do you care?" she eyed me curiously.

It had to have been him! The mysterious man! "Er, um, ah, I think I... might have helped him make that kill."

Raven's eyebrows shot up, and her mouth flew open. "You?"

I clarified, "We did it together; I don't think either of us would have succeeded on our own."

Raven kept staring in astonishment. "Well that's..." she blinked, "...unexpected."

I would have wanted just a little bit more support from my sister, but I had to agree with her. "Tell me about it." I rolled my eyes. "Now I have to search all over again. If only I would have said something!"

Raven studied me in that curious way again. "Why do you want to find him so badly?"

I shrugged. "I just have so many questions about being a Grimm and—" I almost mentioned the pendant hanging around my neck, but then I remembered her connection to the Royal Family. I didn't know what the pendant meant, but I was willing to bet that mentioning it so soon would not be a smart idea, even if she was my sister. "—other things," I finished. "Mostly I just want to be around somebody more like me." I glanced over at Raven. "I guess, now that you're here—"

Raven smiled at me. "Now that I'm here, you're in luck. We can find that Grimm of yours together."

Listening to her confident tone got me excited. "We can?"

Raven winked and threw an arm around my shoulders. "Sure thing! I'm the best there is at finding things, and you know who we're looking for. Stick with me kiddo," she said warmly. "You'll never have to be alone again."

I linked arms with Raven—my sister—and felt more at home than I had anywhere else. We belonged together.  
"Let's go!" I cried.


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue  
_**18 years earlier...**_

A house in Redding, CA burned brightly. The sparks lingered for a while against the dark sky, mingling with the stars before disappearing.

Some distance away, on the shoulder of the highway, a lone young woman watched the inferno. A burly man with thick dark hair approached, smoke escaping the torn, bleeding holes in his black leather trench-coat. His person seemed none the worse for wear. The most striking aspects of his appearance were the large scythe he carried in one hand, and the two bulging sacks in the other. Both were still dripping blood.

The woman barely nodded to him as he dropped the two blood-soaked bundles he had been carrying and pulled a towel out of the trunk of her vehicle. He rubbed off the black soot and the singed hair from his face and hands.  
"Are they dead?"

He laid the towel aside and nodded to the bundles. "They put up one helluva fight, but yeah, it's done."

She did not remove her eyes from the blaze.  
"I presume the fire started as a careless spark some distance away in the woods?" she asked.

The man grinned. "As ordered, Your Ladyship. The authorities will no doubt find traces still of the cigarette that started it all."

She nodded with only a hint of a satisfied smirk. "Good work—But what is that I see?" Her quick eyes caught a movement near the house.

The man moved to her side, staring intently. "Milady, where?"

She pointed to the tiny figure scuttling through the tall grass to the hills beyond. "There, behind the house! You fool!" She brought the hand that pointed around and struck the man full in the face. "I told you to kill everyone first! There should have been no one left alive! You call yourself a Reaper?" the Lady cried.

The Reaper cringed for another blow. "Milady, I swear I searched every room in the house and killed all that I saw: the Grimm and his wife!"

"What about their children, idiot? What about their nurse? You didn't think they would put cribs in the guest room, did you?"

"Lady Aurelia!" another man—a Hundjaeger and one of the Lady's personal servants, "Milady! Look what I have found!" He ran up to his mistress and laid a bundle at her feet. The unconscious form of a young toddler lay within.

Lady Aurelia smiled to herself. "Hmm, maybe all is not lost after all," she mused.

The Reaper, jealous of the approval the slow-witted Hundjaeger was receiving, sought to redeem himself. "Shall I go after the one who escaped?" he asked Lady Aurelia.

Still she would not look at him. "No, leave her be."

"What of this child?" He glanced down at the new arrival and drew his knife. Flourishing it over the infant, he asked, "Shall we take our revenge now?"

"Stop!" Lady Aurelia grabbed his fist and twisted his arm painfully. While he nursed his wrist, she lifted the child gently and cradled her in her arms. Finally she made eye contact, only to glare at him. "You strike too fast, Ludwig. You shall not harm the child."

Ludwig sheathed his knife and shook his head and growled, "I shall not harm the child, I shall not track the maid—Milady, permit me to ask the reason for this?"

Lady Aurelia resumed watching the babe in her arms. "Merely because you ask does not compel me to answer," she replied, "But since I am more assured of obedience if you know my plans, I will tell you." She gazed out at the crumbling house as the lights of the Fire and Rescue trucks appeared on the horizon.  
"The nurse runs out and leaves a baby behind, why? Not because she cares for her own skin; it is because she cannot carry two babies."

Ludwig's partner scratched his ear. "Two, your ladyship?" he echoed.

She pursed her lips irritably. "That is what I said. Now, say that this Wesen maid makes it to a place she deems safe enough to raise a child, somewhere a Grimm can grow without fear of Reapers: Portland."

"Portland?" Ludwig had never heard of such a place.

Lady Aurelia scowled at him. "Why do you have to be so thick? Of course Portland; do you not recall what happened just last week?"

She stared long and hard. Ludwig shuddered and rubbed his neck; on second thought, he had heard of Portland. There was a Grimm there, and just last week he had killed the two Reapers the Family had sent after him, and shipped their heads back to Germany in a box.

"We can make sure she never arrives there," Aurelia continue, "but where else she might go is unknown to us. I will have to notify some friends to watch over them." she smiled wickedly. "You begin to see my plan?"

Ludwig grinned too. "Ahhh..." Something about friends watching—did Lady Aurelia want to become a guardian angel for the runaway? "No, your Ladyship."

At least she did not slap him this time. "_The Wesen have a Grimm_! The idiots will think they can train the Grimm to fight for them, against us! No doubt, when the other is old enough, she will be brought to the Portland Grimm—and then we will spring the trap."

There were times when Lady Aurelia's mind moved faster than Ludwig's, and that was most of the time. "Trap, Milady?"

"Yes, we will bait one sister with the other. Either this one will want to bring her sister and the traitor to us, or the one who escaped our grasp tonight will bring him herself, lest any harm befall her beloved and only family member." Lady Aurelia planted a kiss on the little girl's golden head.

Ludwig watched her. "What will you do with this young one until such a time?" he asked.

Lady Aurelia waved them into the car as the fire trucks pulled up to the house. Ludwig climbed into the driver's seat and drove south, toward Sacramento. "She'll need a tracking device, to be certain. Make a note, Ludwig, that when she has completed her Verrat training that an implant is to be inserted under the brand. That way she will not know it's there, and at any rate it will be hard to pry from the scar tissue!"

Ludwig glanced at the young girl. "She will receive training, then?" At least he would be in charge of her. She would be more Reaper than Grimm, but he didn't mind.

Lady Aurelia smiled down upon the child. "Of course; all the best training that you and the others can give her. I will bring her with me to my castle at Lyon. She will serve at my side and I will teach her to be everything the Grimms should have been. She will be my own, _my_ Raven."


End file.
